MAGNETIC REVERIE Read online

  The cottage was nice and warm. While drinking tea that Blonde offered her, Red explained her story and asked Blonde if she could sleep in the cottage that night. Blonde felt sorry for her. She understood perfectly as she was also a princess from a faraway land. She was in the same situation a few months ago and decided to run. Luckily, her father wasn’t dying. But he was less understanding and planned to force her to marry an older, ugly prince. Red was relieved that she had met the perfect person that she could talk to, and who really understood her. Both of them had no idea how they had never liked any of the young men they saw, though some were handsome, rich, well read and seemed to have good hearts!

  In the days that followed, the girls spent a wonderful time together. Nothing could disturb their fairytale. One day, somebody passed by and announced loudly that the king will die soon and that since the princess had disappeared, the kingdom was going to have an unfortunate future ahead. Red’s mother passed away the day she gave birth to her. She was the only child, so she was everything her father had. In that moment, she realized that the death of her father was inevitable. It would also break her heart to be away from him at this time. That evening, she explained to Blonde that she wanted to return to the castle the next morning to fulfill her father’s last wish. Blonde understood and hugged her tight, patting her head, feeling very sorry for her but accepting her decision. They agreed that it was the best thing to do. In a few days, they had become really close. Red promised to visit her at least once a year. Blonde agreed.

  They went to sleep, but as they were to part ways the next day, they were very sad. The light of the rising sun woke Red up. It seemed like she didn’t sleep at all. It was an important day. She stood up, preparing to walk back to the castle. She searched for Blonde to say goodbye but couldn’t find her anywhere. As the walk was long, she had to start immediately. She didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye. Soon, the sound of a galloping horse approaching caught her attention. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young man riding a beautiful white horse. The moment he saw her, he stopped to ask if she knew in which direction the castle was as he was about to go ask the king for the hand of his daughter. Red looked at the man. His blue eyes were beautiful and seemed familiar. He seemed to be a good person. She could tell from his voice, choice of words and the warmth in his eyes. She told him that she was the princess. He seemed surprised to see her there, but was more surprised to find her so beautiful. He waited with her, as she wanted to see Blonde. She had already started missing Blonde, but the presence of this prince on a white horse made her sadness bearable.

  Time passed by. The sun went down. She decided not to wait for Blonde anymore. She hoped that nothing bad had happened to her. The thought that maybe the reason she disappeared was that the separation was tough to take helped a bit. Red and the prince left. They rode towards the castle. On the way, Red remembered her decision and told him that she would accept his proposal and that her father would give them his blessing. It seemed like her best choice. She hoped that maybe in time, she would be able to love him. When they reached the castle, they went to the king’s room. His eyes gained a sparkle the moment they saw Red. He was happy that she had decided to accept someone’s proposal. As the king’s health was critical, the wedding was planned for the next day. There was not going to be a very grand celebration due to his ill health.

  After the wedding and the silent dinner, without any loud music, but with extremely happy faces, the young married couple went to their bedroom. Red was afraid of the first night. She hoped that the prince was good enough to understand that she couldn’t fulfill her duty, at least not yet. They sat in bed. The prince took her hand gently, and kissed it as if it was the most precious thing his lips had ever touched. When Red tried to find the words to ask her husband for the favor of not sharing the bed, something surprising happened. The prince stood up and locked the door. He turned his back to her, uncovered his head and from underneath, long blond hair appeared, far longer than a man could have. When he faced her, Red saw that it was Blonde! She was shocked for a while, incapable of thinking of anything. A few moments later, Blonde came close to her with a happy smile on her face. Red explained her surprise and admitted that she wasn’t clever enough to think of this plan but she was happy that Blonde did. Both their problems were solved!

  Blonde was so satisfied that Red approved her plan and went to hug her as friends would. But instead of a hug, Red gave her a kiss on the lips. That kiss was followed by another one, and another one. They never stopped kissing and hugging. Shortly, they began loving each other. In time, Red and Blonde shared the matrimonial bed. But as they were both women and people in the kingdom were waiting for the queen to have children, they had to find a solution. They knew that they had to do something soon. So they traveled in disguise far from the kingdom. After many days, they found out about a poor young woman who got pregnant and as she had no husband, she was forced to leave the village. No one knew where she was, they just assumed that she lived alone somewhere in the forest far from the village. This news gave Red and Blonde hope. Of course, it seemed almost impossible to find her and even more of an impossibility that the woman would want to give away her child. Hoping for a good result, they returned to the castle and the announcement was made that the queen was pregnant. She strapped a pillow to her stomach – only that it got bigger with each passing month. From time to time, they traveled, always disguised, searching for the woman. To their luck, they found her exactly a few hours before she gave birth. They offered to take her soon-to-be-born child in return for a big reward. Although it seemed too harsh, the woman said that it was enough if they wanted to take care of the child as her life was already too difficult for her because of it. A few hours later, to their surprise twins were born: a boy and a girl. While it was still dark they thanked the woman, they took the newborns and returned to the castle at night. In the morning, they announced that the queen had given birth to wonderful, healthy twins. Of course, they made sure that the woman was provided for life with all that she needed, and even beyond.

  Blonde’s real gender identity and the story of the children was their secret, no one ever found out. But it was the sweetest secret ever. And they lived happily ever after.”

  WOW! That was a nice story. I admit I was a bit sad when Red left with the prince, as I didn’t expect it was Blonde in disguise. They managed to have children, as well! But would life be like that? Slowly, my headache disappeared. I felt sleepy from her beautiful voice, but I forced myself to stay awake.

  “I love you babe. You are my Red and I would do what Blonde did any time for you.”

  “I love you too, my Blonde.”

  We kissed and hugged until I finally fell asleep. It was a sweet sleep.

  I woke up in the morning before the alarm rang, trying to figure out what day it was. It took me a while but I realized it was Friday. I had to go to work. I felt rested – and realized that I had woken up in my dreams. How was this possible? Strange! I didn’t expect it! I knew there wasn’t any logic but I would wake up from my dreams with Claire, back to reality. It wasn’t that I minded having a chance to be with Claire without waiting for the day to end, but I couldn’t control the strange feeling that I had done that. I was aware that it could happen and that I didn’t have the dreams with regularity but it wasn’t possible that I was not present in my real life. Everything was mixed up. All these thoughts made my morning dip into darkness, and all I wanted to do was to lay back and sleep, hoping it would be different. My plan was immediately interrupted by Claire’s entrance into the bedroom and her sweet kisses.

  “Good morning, my Red!” She was in a really good mood and managed to transfer it to me as well so I managed to forget about my concerns. She wanted to talk about the holiday. Well, who wouldn’t be in a good mood for this kind of a topic?

  As Bled was just a sort of an introduction to our real holiday, we decided to go to the Croatian seaside to swim in the Adriatic Sea and wal
k on the wonderful beaches there. Claire told me that we had a great vacation in the very places that we are going to visit now and she was sure that I would enjoy them just as well. Just that the last time we were there it was in spring, so this time we were going to enjoy it differently. I had no doubt about that. Wherever Claire was, it was happiness for me. Life had a completely different meaning and being happy for me needed a very simple recipe: be with Claire, do whatever, and happiness was guaranteed. I was crazy and madly in love with her.

  We spent all day packing and arranging our trip. Everything was booked pretty quickly since her contacts helped us with our accommodation. I let her deal with all the details though I was a good planner. I felt this was her territory, and it was her idea to visit the very places we had visited on our last holiday. She wanted this to be a perfect holiday. I remembered the Croatian coast and its islands a few times from my own memories and they were simply beautiful. I had no doubt that I would enjoy it. I know she hoped that the same places could bring the same results as she recalled, but I couldn’t promise anything. I wasn’t afraid to fall in love with her although it was very risky for me to love someone in my fantasy world. But then I realized one very important thing: falling in love with her wasn’t a choice. It simply happened as it couldn’t go any other way.

  Being sexually intimate with her was another thing. It seemed to be a step I didn’t know if I could take. In addition I knew something she didn’t. She appeared in my dreams alone, but during the day, I was the same person with another life, in another country, married to a wonderful person with the desire to have children. She was impossible not to love but unfortunately impossible to have. She was perfect but she wasn’t real.

  Until now, I was a faithful partner. Whenever there was a situation when I could get close to what may be considered cheating I tried to stay out of trouble. I couldn’t do the same thing in my dreams. The more I dreamed of her, the more I wanted. Did this mean that I was betraying Greg? Of course it did. Did this mean that I was not fulfilled by him or his love? I didn’t know, honestly. Or maybe I was in denial.

  Something was telling me to just let myself go with this dream adventure, not just because it was intriguing in a positive way to have a relationship with a girl, but because I felt happy.

  Of course that from time to time the similar questions crossed my mind. Was I born bisexual? I didn’t feel this in my real life. Was this inclination towards women present in me and I never had the opportunity to let it out? Was Claire the trigger? Or was she the only woman in my life that could ever make me express it? Or was it just pure fantasy? I had to admit that it brought me a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. I was discovering different kind of emotions that I had never felt before. In time, I found that the relationship between two girls could bring a special bonding and understanding. Would I have gone ahead with it if it happened in real life? Would I have had this dream with a woman if I was single? I had no idea of knowing. But I would know for sure as long as I was willing to give my relationship with Claire bit more time.

  It would have been easier if I could talk to Claire but I didn’t dare to. It was bad enough that I didn’t remember our past, so I didn’t want her go into details about bisexuality or homosexuality. I didn’t want to spoil her happiness by showing her my doubts. After a full day of preparation, we were exhausted but thrilled. It was funny that I could get really tired in the dreams as well. I looked ahead for a good night’s rest. I was the first to sleep. Claire talked to her brother, so I gave her the privacy to have the conversation and jumped into the bed. I was thrilled about our holiday, but as I could never be sure about the continuation of the dream, I prayed for it before falling asleep. I wasn’t always one to pray much – but I wanted this badly. This didn’t mean that I didn’t want a full day with Greg, especially now that as far as I knew it, we seemed to have skipped one. It was the weekend, and we could be together the whole time. Somehow, this holiday to Croatia seemed interesting. Was I preferring Claire’s companionship over Greg’s? No! It was the excitement of seeing the Croatian seaside. The old romantic cities and the Adriatic Sea were beautiful! Yeah, right. Was this me lying to myself?

  Something woke me up. It was nice and cozy in bed, but I tried to stand up slowly. I reached to see if Greg was still in bed but there was nobody next to me. I opened my eyes wider and noticed that I was still in Claire’s apartment. I closed my eyes and opened them again. It was the same place. It was 5:00 AM. How could that be possible? I know that yesterday I was confused about the same issue and maybe it was just a confusion, but now it was becoming more and more alarming. I was sure I would wake up to reality! This had not happened so far. I tried to remember what I had done during the day in Washington last, but I remember that I was at work, so I remembered a working day and not a weekend. No matter how happy I was about being close to the holiday that Claire and I had planned, I felt strange. Or maybe I had no recollection of the previous day, while dreaming? What if I was stuck in the dream? What would happen to Greg? Would he think I had disappeared? After few a minutes of worrying and wondering, I realized that this couldn’t be possible. No matter how impossible it was to have these dreams, being trapped completely in them and disappearing from real life wasn’t possible. Maybe I had just woken up in the middle of the night and started dreaming again and skipped the night in my dreams! That could be it. I was impatient to go on holiday. My wicked mind helped me.

  I stood up immediately. It was the day to go on a holiday. I searched through the apartment. Claire wasn’t around at all. I searched for a note, but couldn’t find any. I started worrying. I looked for the luggage and everything was in place. Okay, so I hadn’t woken up at another time in my dream. It seemed to be a continuation. But without Claire, what would be the purpose of this dream?

  Was my mind playing tricks on me? Without Claire, it wouldn’t be a holiday. I thought that maybe I should go back to sleep, and that I would wake up to either Claire or Greg beside me. Being alone made me feel afraid. I didn’t know what was I afraid of exactly, but I had an unpleasant feeling. I waited longer. There was no sign of Claire. I went back to bed. But first, I pulled the curtains tight to make sure the morning sun won’t bother me. I tried not to think of anything. I told myself that I had to be calm so that sleep could take over and bring at least one of them to me. Either Greg bringing me breakfast in bed, as he usually did in the weekends when he woke up before me or Claire telling me it was time to get ready for the road. I must have been in bed for a while. But I didn’t really manage to fall asleep. I looked at the watch. It was 7:23 AM. That was enough! I stood up and looked around. It was Claire’s apartment. After searching the apartment and calling her name, I couldn’t find any sign of her. I was helpless. Where could she have gone if we were supposed to go on the trip? Everything was planned and ready from the day before. Had she changed her mind? I really wished she hadn’t.

  I sat helplessly on the couch in the living room. All this confusion drained all the energy in me. I wasn’t in a shape to make coffee. But I heard a sound at the door and saw it open. I was already in the anteroom and I saw Claire enter. It made me happy. “Oh sweetie, here you are!”

  She looked happy but surprised. “Hey babe. Glad to see someone is so happy to see me, but you seem worried. Any particular reason?”

  “I woke up more than two hours ago and you weren’t here. I had no idea where you were. Where have you been?”

  “After my morning run I went to pick up the car and had breakfast with my brother. Don’t you remember I arranged with David to lend us the car for the holiday? It is more practical to have a car than use public transportation. I didn’t expect you to wake up so early so I didn’t even think to hurry.”

  “Oh yes. Stupid me. I totally forgot. Everything good then. Let’s get ready. I am so excited to go.”

  “Me too babe, me too.”

  I was thrilled about the trip and I didn’t even have any reason to bother about anything else. We got re
ady soon and put everything in the car. A few minutes before 8:00 AM, we were on our way. As we wanted to avoid heavy traffic, an early start was the smartest decision. In less than an hour-and-a-half, we were already at the Croatian border. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long to cross the border. None of us would have minded if we took longer to reach our destination, as it was important that we were together. David’s car, a black Hyundai Tucson, a compact SUV, was very comfortable and a joy to ride in. Claire drove, and we agreed that we would take turns when she got tired. She seemed thrilled to drive the car. There was no need to switch places. Maybe she enjoyed being the driver to impress me. I was satisfied either way. The only thing that wasn’t totally to my liking was that I couldn’t see her eyes as she wore really dark sunglasses. The strong sun wasn’t easy to bear for light-colored eyes. So, sunglasses were necessary. She looked smashing in them, I had to admit. There was nothing I didn’t like about her. She wore a light blue top and navy shorts. I caught myself looking at her with admiration, at her arms, torso and legs while she drove. I missed her kisses. I couldn’t wait to feel her lips again. Most of the time, we listened to music and enjoyed the view that got even more appealing when we started to see the sea. The view was fantastic. The sea thrilled us even more. With only one stop for coffee and a snack, and four-and-a-half hours of driving, we reached our destination: Šibenik.

  Šibenik is placed in the central part of the Croatian Adriatic Coast in a region called Dalmatia. It is the oldest native Croatian city on the Adriatic, located in the most protected natural harbor, at the mouth of the beautiful Krka River, at the sources of Croatia’s rich history, probably in the place where some of the original Croatian settlers first saw the blue sea, as capricious as it is beautiful that both protected and defended them, fed and took care of them for as long as they could remember. This was what Claire had told me about the town. She told me that I had been to Šibenik before, but I didn’t remember being here. However, from what I saw until we parked our car on the Poljane parking lot, I was sure I will enjoy every little aspect of the place.